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A teenage killer who did a ‘dance of death’ after stabbing a pupil on a bus to solve a ‘school problem’ has been jailed for life at the Old Bailey today.
Marvin Dyer, 16, stabbed a combat knife into the heart and lungs of Baptista Adjei, 15, in revenge for the jokes told about him on Snapchat.
The killer boarded bus 241 in Stratford, east London, after a friend on the upper deck advised him that Baptista was about to get off.
Wearing a balaclava and a single blue latex glove, he confronted Baptista as he came down the stairs and stabbed him twice.
Marvin Dyer (left), 16, who did a ‘dance of death’ after stabbing Baptista Adjei (right), 15, on a bus in Stratford, east London, to solve a ‘school problem ‘, has been jailed for life at the Old Bailey today
A second 15-year-old boy was stabbed in the arm and knee.
Later, Dyer was caught dancing on CCTV after a friend told him that Baptista had died over the phone on October 10.
He was caught only because his own mother took him to the Forest Gate Police Station and handed him over when she told him about the attack.
Judge John Hillen QC lifted an order today prohibiting the press from reporting Dyer’s name or publishing his image.
He said: “There is not enough evidence or evidence from which I can determine that lifting my anonymity would harm Marvin Dyer or affect his rehabilitation.”
Baptista Adjei, 15, photographed by his former football team, was stabbed to death in Stratford, east London.
Imprisoning Dyer for life at a minimum of 16 years old, he continued: ‘You were only six weeks older than him. You have your life, you have taken Baptista’s, leaving what his family described as a huge void in their lives.
“He was a well-liked popular boy who showed promise in school and has fun … He and his family had dreams for the future that will never be fulfilled …
Not only have you taken a life, but you have ruined the lives of many others who knew and loved Baptista. You and your victim got into a fight on social media over a school-to-school prank.
The specter of the obsession with knives and violence was too obvious.
He always intended for Baptista to die. There was a significant degree of planning and premeditation and there was no immediate provocation and Snapchat was clearly not a justification for any assault.
‘You were armed with a knife and brought it to the scene with the intention of committing murder. I am satisfied that you are 15 and now you are 16. This was his own personal company, not a group attack. I do not consider you naive, but calculating.
Baptista’s heartbroken mother, Josephine, said: ‘This senseless murder has taken away his dreams.
“I can’t stop crying because his murder doesn’t make sense, especially considering Baptista was a good boy.
The combat knife that Dyer used to stab Baptista in the heart. Wearing a balaclava and a single blue latex glove, Dyer confronted Baptista as he was coming down the steps of the 241 bus and stabbed him twice.
“Baptista’s death has left a huge void in our lives that we miss and think about every day.”
The court heard how Baptista managed to flee to a nearby McDonalds, but had been wounded in the heart and collapsed and died there.
Minutes after the attack, the killer was caught on closed-circuit television dancing after a phone call from a friend informed him that the schoolboy had died.
While providing evidence about the attack, Dyer told the jury, “I didn’t really feel anything.”
Police and paramedics found Baptista with ‘critical injuries’ and despite fighting to save his life, he was pronounced dead at the scene near the mall at 3.49pm In the photo: Police treat surviving teenager in Stratford
He said he was enraged that Baptista had called him a ‘dwarf’ two weeks earlier in a heated group talk involving rival East London schools.
The second victim described it as ‘like meat talk at school’.
It took a jury 21 hours and 59 minutes to convict Dyer of murder, as members of the victim’s family sighed in relief upon hearing the verdict.
But a second young man, also 16, was acquitted of murder and illegal injuries.
Baptista’s heartbroken mother, Josephine, said: ‘I can’t stop crying because his murder makes no sense, especially considering Baptista was such a good boy.’
Dyer told his mother the day after the murder: “I’m the one who stabbed them both.”
In the group chat, the killer had been teased by Baptista’s friends who called him: ‘wet’, ‘victim of bullying’ and ‘dwarf’.
Furious, the assassin replied: ‘If you don’t have bodies on your sword, leave the group chat.’
The boy explained that he bought the knives for himself and his co-defendant in Reading from a merchant on Snapchat for £ 20 each.
After the attack, he went to Little Ilford Park and threw away a garbage bag containing the gray and blue tracksuit he was wearing at the time of the stabbing.
Five days later, police used the data on his mobile phone to retrieve the garbage bag and the Rambo knife was found under a nearby hedge.
Prosecutor Deanna Heer said: ‘It’s a shocking case. The murderer said that they made fun of him for his height, that they harassed him and that he was wet and all that in front of 32 participants.
In the CCTV clip, he appears to be throwing his hands and dancing to the music. Is that consistent with being upset and scared?
But Dyer insisted that he did not intend for his victim to die.
He told the court: ‘I thought he stumbled at the time.
‘I didn’t feel anything to be honest with you. They stabbed him but I didn’t think it was bad.
Police used the data from Dyer’s mobile phone to retrieve the garbage bag and the Rambo knife was found under a hedge near Little Ilford Park.
I saw it on the news and checked it to see that it was true. I was scared. I was playing music, it keeps me calm. ‘
Dyer, formerly of East London, admitted manslaughter but denied the murder and intentionally injured.
He was convicted of murder but acquitted of intentional wounding.
The second defendant, also 16 years old and from East London, denied the murder and was acquitted.
He was also cleared of illegal injuries.
